York Forbidden Chronicles - Tales for the dark souls.
Recommended by 92% of travelers
York, England
- 1 hour 30 minutes (approx.)
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
Overview
Discover the dark history of York and stories that you wouldn’t find in a guidebook on this out-of-the-ordinary horror-themed walking tour. As you walk past a mix of famous and lesser-known sights, a guide keeps you entertained with historical stories, hidden secrets, and tales of unusual events from the past 2,000 years.
- Swap city sightseeing for a horror-themed tour of York
- Cover lots of ground by exploring the city on foot
- A guide takes care of the navigating so you don’t get lost
- Discover hidden secrets about the city that you wouldn’t uncover alone
What's Included
- Live guided tour.
- Alcoholic Beverages
Meeting and Pickup
Meeting point
- Clifford's Tower, YorkTower St, York YO1 9SA, UK
The tour leaves promptly at your chosen time. Guides cannot answer phones for late comers so we advise arriving 10 minutes early.
End point
- The Perky PeacockBarker Tower, North St, York YO1 6BE, UK
Itinerary
1
York
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
2
Clifford's Tower
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
3
Baile Hill
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
4
York City Walls
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
5
Victoria Bar
5 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
6
Skeldergate Bridge
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
7
North Street
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Free
8
The Perky Peacock
10 minutes • Admission Ticket Not Included
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Wheelchair accessible
- Stroller accessible
- Service animals allowed
- Near public transportation
- Transportation is wheelchair accessible
- No heart problems or other serious medical conditions
- Most travelers can participate
- Not recommend for Children Under 8 years of age. Parental discretion for younger children.
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 25 travelers
Supplied by
Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Reviews
4.7
based on 451 reviews
Sort by: Most insightful
Helen_D, Oct 2025
Was very interesting informative and entertaining. Was great walking around York at night. The stories were real
Response from Host, Oct 2025
So pleased to hear you loved Forbidden Chronicles really hit the mark. It’s why we moved away from traditional ghost walks to real human stories.
Rebecca_R, Oct 2025
Our guide was a true story-teller. Stories were intriguing and he told them well. Lots of walking, as expected. York specifically has a lot of cobblestones, walking in the dark could make it difficult for some.
Response from Host, Oct 2025
Thank you so much for this great review. Glad it got you thinking!
terence_r, Aug 2025
It was very interesting the guide was very noligable and friendly and would highly recommend it it's a change from the ghost walks
Response from Host, Aug 2025
Thank you for this great review. I’m glad you enjoyed our alternative to a ghost walk .
Bailey_C, Jan 2025
Amazing experience with a funny and engaging tour guide! Would definitely recommend if you're new to the city and searching for the more macabre history.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thank you for your great review. We are pleased to see you enjoyed our alternative to a ghost walk. The truth is always better!
Carly_D, Dec 2024
My sisters and I visited York for the first time. Our knowledge of York was very limited. After last night tour, I have true appreciation for the city and its wealth of history. Ethel did an amazing job. I highly recommend. Thank you.
Response from Host, Jan 2025
Thank you for the awesome review. Sums up what we do. Anyone can do a ghost walk the best do Forbidden chronicles
Kim_W, Dec 2024
A great way to get a brief introduction to the history of such a fascinating city. Our house was extremely knowledgeable and great fun.
Response from Host, Dec 2024
That’s a great review for our new offer and more unique and truthful look at Yorks dark past. History no gimmicks!
J&M
Julia_W, Oct 2024
Every part of this tour was amazing and it was implied some of it may be on artistic allowance. I googled most of the information and it was all there. The tour guide was very knowledgeable and informative.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you so much for your review I’m very pleased to hear that you enjoyed the experience. And thank you for verifying the stories!
Louise_W, Oct 2024
Great tour and very informative, our guide was fab and very believable with his spooky tale and story telling 😉
He knew his stuff.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank for this amazing review. Yorks devilish side really hits home!
Ben_S, Oct 2024
Very good. Young teenage family enjoyed. Very cold, remember to wrap up warm!! Would definitely recommend if visting York.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you for your great review. And for the advice it’s definitely getting cold!
jackie_r, Oct 2024
Our excellent guide took us around york explaining the dark aspects of the city. Great explanations of the history of york.
Response from Host, Oct 2024
Thank you for this great review. So pleased to hear you liked the factual investigation in to Yorks dark side
Rosemary_B, Sep 2024
Our ghost host was great with spooky ghastly tales of York. A fun evening for everyone . His stories were appropriately ghoulish and ghastly with lots of gory details for us to enjoy.
Response from Host, Sep 2024
Thank you for the great review. Our unique take is gaining popularity and it’s great to hear you enjoyed and survived the experience
Andrew_P, May 2024
Maybe a little bland, informative but less than inspiring, was good to be informed of Yorks dark history but was left a little less impressed by the delivery of our guide
Response from Host, May 2024
Thank you for the review. I am new to the tour as mentioned so concentrate on the stories you enjoyed. The performance and content will of course get stronger, but practice makes perfect. 93% of visitors so far gave 5 stars.
Josh_A, Apr 2024
Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and took us around a few of the oldest parts of York. We had stories ranging from 800s to the 1950s.
Response from Host, Apr 2024
Thank you for reviewing Brother Mortimer. He is happy to hear you enjoyed the Devilishly dark side of Yorks ancient past.
Jessica_B, Mar 2024
The whole experience was great! Learnt lots of cool interesting historical and ghostly facts. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the experience fun and engaging, would definitely recommend!
Response from Host, Apr 2024
Thank you this a great review Jessica and much appreciated. It's great to know you had a great evening on our tour.
Kirsty_E, Mar 2024
Informative, fun interesting walk around York. Lots to learn understand and see. 5 star
Lots of history, facts and information.
Child 15 & 13 plus adults. All throughly enjoyed the night.
Response from Host, Mar 2024
Thank you so much for this amazing review! It'sgreat to hear you and your family had a great night.
Andrew_H, Feb 2024
A great evening with friends and the most memorable part was about Guy Fawkes.
A very good guide.
Great set of people on the tour.
Response from Host, Feb 2024
Thank you for this great review awe are so glad to hear you had a great evening. Poor Guy Fawkes!
Devon_D, Jan 2024
Lots of fun with tales none of the other walk tell you , tour guide was brill shame about the weather
Response from Host, Jan 2024
Thank you for this great review and for pointing out why were are original and unique to other tours!
Stacey_B, Jan 2024
It was very good and funny he ask before he said any thing that could be offences because we had a 14 year old with use
Response from Host, Jan 2024
Thank you so much for the review. glad you enjoyed the experience.
Steven_W, Dec 2023
The tour guides enthusiasm , and knowledge as well as the places he took us to .he also had us do role play which was fun
Response from Host, Dec 2023
Thank you so much for this review we are delighted you had such a good time.
Lucy_P, Dec 2023
Jack was our tour guide and he was amazing, he was so good with the children who were also on the tour. He involved the crowd and told us lots of gruesome stories. I would 100% recommend this tour.
Response from Host, Dec 2023
Thank you for the amazing review. It means so much to hear you had a good evening with us.
Gemma_S, Dec 2023
Brilliant experience, Jack our tour guide was very knowledgeable,perfessional but also very entertaining
Response from Host, Dec 2023
Thank you for the amazing review. It means so much to hear you had a good evening with us.
Amanda_M, Nov 2023
My daughter and I did the evening tour. Our guide, Jack, was knowledgeable, articulate and engaging. His sense of humour was spot on and we thoroughly enjoyed learning about York’s dark and sometimes bloody past, with the human stories really being brought to life. When we went into town the following day it was great to revisit some of the previous evening’s sites with this knowledge we gained from the tour. I thoroughly recommend it.
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you so much for this amazing review we are delighted to hear you had a good time
Peter_C, Nov 2023
Was an extremely good tour, wasn't your typical ghost tour we visited on the 25th of November and I our guide (jack,Jake) was very good. I'm from Derby and have done a few tours like this before from derby and Nottingham but this was just different.
It's not a ghost tour, which isn't a bad thing. It's a tour of Yorks history and it was the highlight of our vist
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you so much for this great review, we do try to do something different from the tourist mainstream which any city can do. Our stories ,we hope, show the real horror of the city.
Amy_M, Oct 2023
Brilliant. The time flew by on this tour, it was entertaining and wonderfully factual. It makes a nice difference to the typical ghost stories!
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
Katherine_T, Oct 2023
Wonderful way to spend an (albeit very windy) evening in York. Our tour guide, Jack, was knowledgeable, entertaining and engaging, and really got everyone involved. Our group were happy to get stuck in for the interactive bits, and despite the fact we were all pretty cold by the end of the 90 minutes, we were very sorry when the tour was over. Cannot recommend highly enough, if you like the darker side of history then this is definitely an activity you won't want to miss.
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
Margrett_P, Oct 2023
Lovely tour, the tour guy was very knowledgeable and engaged with everyone on the tour. Would recommend this tour
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
Robert_K, Oct 2023
Awful! One star because I couldn’t do no stars. The tour guide didn’t arrive and there were no contact numbers available to speak to the tour operator. Was contacted the next day to be told the guide didn’t realise they were supposed to be working! Terrible service!
Response from Host, Oct 2023
This matter has been dealt with. we obviously apologies for this error but as our reviews show we are reliable and tours run usually pretty prompt. The contact number is on your ticket.
Suzanne_V, Sep 2023
Showed a different side to York. Lots of stories we didn’t know, delivered by an engaging guide and story teller.
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
Suzanne_T, Sep 2023
Really enjoyed how well Finn told the stories, and encouraged people to join in.
Some great laughs as well as gore & horror! Extremely interesting..
Finn was charming, informative & had a great passion for the stories.
Would do this again when I come back to visit York.
Scots lass and laddie.
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
Anji_R, Sep 2023
We both enjoyed this tour, sometimes I feel these things can be a bit gimmicky, however, this tour felt more authentic. I'd say it was aimed more towards a mature audience interested in history (and gore). Jack was an excellent guide and managed to incorporate some humour to keep the spirits lifted during some very dark tales. He was very sensitive when delivering the information regarding the struggles people of different cultures/religions went through back in the day. I'd definitely reccomend this tour to someone interested in history rather than ghost stories, the tour won't scare you but it may provoke some deep thinking into how badly people have been treated in the past.
Response from Host, Nov 2023
Thank you for your review, we are pleased to know you enjoyed the tour your feed back means a lot to us
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